Regular pay in the UK, excluding bonuses, rose 3.4% year-on-year to GBP 697 per week in the three months to April 2026, matching March's pace while exceeding market expectations of 3.2%. It remained the weakest increase since the three months to October 2020, with private sector wages slowing to 2.9% from 3.1%, the lowest since the three months to October 2020. Meanwhile, public sector pay accelerated to 5.1% from the prior 4.8%, which had been the softest since late 2024. By industry, annual gains were seen in wholesale, retail, hotels, and restaurants (3.5%), manufacturing (3.1%), services (3.6%), and finance and business services (2.5%), but declined for construction (-0.7%). Adjusted for inflation, real wages edged up 0.1% in the three months to April, keeping the same pace as in the previous period and staying at the lowest level since mid-2023.